Hikari School -- February 16, 2009

It was a beautiful day, warm like spring. Three ladies joined the class, but two ladies had to cancel the lesson because of the children's illness.

The theme of the lesson was Hinamatsuri (Hina dolls festival).

We made cards with origami hina dolls. Then we practiced making tea.

Shodo -- February 9, 2009

Today we had a new participant. She came to Tokyo half a year ago after her graduation from high school. She will stay 6 months more and go back to her country for studying in a university. She can speak good Japanese.

Cooking -- January 29, 2009

It was really a lively cooking class with six ladies and three children. The menu was gyoza dumplings, steamed vegetables with tofu-based dressing, fried rice, tomato and egg soup. The dessert was dorayaki. They especially enjoyed making gyoza dumplings. We made forty dumplings.

Hikari School -- January 26, 2009

Four ladies attended the first class of Hikari School 2009. The teacher talked about the traditional New Year's games like sugoroku(backgammon), karuta, hanafuda, flying-kite, battledore and shuttlecock. We had fun playing "bekuhai" game with special sake cups using tea instead of sake wine.

Shodo -- January 5, 2009

It was the first shodo lesson in 2009. Five enthusiastic ladies attended. It seemed a little tight for doing shodo as they practiced with bigger sized paper today, but they shared copies to make more room.

Hikari School -- December 19, 2008

Two newcomers from Finland joined us today. We started with origami. We made origami cranes, rabbits, and balloons. The sencha tea ceremony was the roasted tea. One lady wearing yukata summer kimono served tea to everyone. The next lesson will be next year on January 26th, Monday.

Shodo -- December 8, 2008

Today we had the last shodo class in 2008. Four ladies attended and made lovely pieces of work for the new year. After concentrating on shodo, hot coffee and chatting are quite relaxing.

Cooking -- December 1, 2008

New Year's Holiday is special to Japanese as Christmas is to Westerners. Many people start preparing New Year's dishes from several days before the New Year's day. Today we cooked some tipical dishes for the New Year's. Mochi(rice cake) was the new food for the participants.

Hikari School -- November 21, 2008

Though one lady could not make it because of the flu, three ladies enjoyed the workshop of making coasters and the matcha tea ceremony. Everyone used a portable tea set and made matcha tea for the first time.

Shodo -- November 7, 2008

Three members attended shodo class in a late autumn day. They practiced 紅葉in the graphic style and 大器晩成 in the square style. As one member visited several museums of Japanese arts, topics flew meaning of 大器晩成or otherwords and drawings of Ogata Korin etc.

Cooking -- October 30, 2008

Today's menu was pressed sushi and fried vegetables.Though we had made nigiriｚushi, chirashizushi, inarizushi, and sushi rolls before, pressed sushi was new to everyone. Everyone enjoyed pressing sushi rice and marinated fish in a special container.They did a very good job! We also deep-fried sliced lotus root, taro, and eringi mushrooms and ate them with a bit of curry salt. Very delicious!

Chilean cooking -- October 23, 2008

Today's cooking class was not for foreigners but for Japanese. One member from Chile taught us Chilean cooking. The menu was stuffed tomatoes, Carbonada (beef and vegetable soup), and dried compote with mote wheat. Every dish is very delicious and healthy. We had a fun chat over lunch.

Shodo -- October 10, 2008

Six ladies attended today's shodo lesson.Four children came with mothers. It's so nice to see them growing up and their interest changing little by little. Some of them wanted to do shodo beside their mothers.

Hikari School -- October 9, 2008

Six ladies enjoyed October lesson of Hikari School. The workshop was flower arranging and we learned the real basics. The sencha tea ceremony was also basic tea making. One lady was presented a certificate of completion of orientation course. The fun coffee time followed the lesson.

Cooking -- September 29, 2008

We had the first cooking after a summer break. Six ladies enjoyed today's cooking. We cooked seasonal dishes; salt-grilled sanma(Pacific saury) and pear salad. All the dishes including braised chicken, miso soup, and orange jello were ready a little after noon. It is fun to talk about food and other topic over lunch.

Art Shodo -- September 17, 2008

Three ladies joined and made attractive welcome boards. First they carved autumnal objects such as the full moon, susuki, cosmos,rabbit and so on with rubber. Then stamped and arranged on postcards with phrase of Welcome.

Shodo--September 8, 2008

Now September comes and everyone seemes ready to start again shodo lesson. Four ladies enjoyed writing autumnal words.

Hikari School -- September 5, 2008

We had the first Hikari School class after the summer break. The theme of the lesson was Chrysanthemum as September 9 is Chrysanthemum festival. We made braids with Asian knots. The knots are the shapes of chrysanthemum.We learned making chrysanthemum tea and enjoyed the flavor of chrysanthemum.

Shodo -- August 8, 2008

Though most members are out of town for a summer holiday, two ladies joined us for shodo lesson. They practiced kanji letters, yume(dream)and hoshi(star),which are quite difficult to write, but they wrote them very nicely on uchiwa(fan).

Hikari School -- July 17, 2008

Two ladies from South Africa joined us for Hikari School. We first made mini uchiwa fans decorating with washi paper. We also enjoyed iced green tea ceremony. A bit bitter taste. Anyway we enjoyed a charming lesson in mid-summer.

Shodo -- June 30, 2008

We had a fun lesson with a new teacher. Newcomers practiced numbers in kanji and their names in katakana. And one lady challenged difficult kanji' kakitsubata' which means iris in English. It is difficult for some Japanese to write 'kakitsubata'in kanji.

Hikari School -- June 19, 2008

Hikari School was held with five participants, most of whom arrived in Tokyo quite recently. Hikaru-sensei started the lesson with a talk on Tanabata matsuri, Japanese Star Festival.

And we made several decorations with origami paper for the bamboo branches and everyone wrote her wish on a piece of paper. Before we started sencha tea ceremony one lady was glad to wear yukata (summer kimono).

Shodo -- June 9, 2008

Though three ladies had to cancel today's shodo, three regular members enjoyed the lesson as always. One girl will move out Tokyo soon, and others will have a summer holiday. We will meet again in September.